Condi unscripted

Condoleezza Rice answers some impromptu student questions on tape at a dorm talk on Tuesday (Roble).

The striking part for me, other than that she actually allowed herself to be taped, is her emphasis on the word legal when discussing what she will only call “enhanced interrogation.”

While I agree with her that after seeing people fall 80 stories, public sentiment demanded everything necessary to occur to prevent another attack, here again she bounds this claim with the word legal. Everything legal.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the biggest problem with all of the torture disclosures that what occurred happened illegally and secretly? Even when Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, at least he was open about it…

Why isn’t there more outrage from conservatives about the giant increase in assumed executive powers that allowed such a subversion of Congress, international treaties, and the U.S. Constitution? I’m hearing too many people allegedly representative of the GOP (and who often label themselves as emblematic conservatives) defend these “enhanced interrogation” policies blindly. At what point does the fear of big government return? What happened to the party of individual liberty?